Investigation of acetylene addition to Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis

Abstract Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis was conducted with acetylene ( 13 C 2 H 2 ) probes added over iron catalyst under mild conditions. The analysis by 13 C NMR spectroscopy illustrated that the labeled carbons of 13 C 2 H 2 were transformed to terminal units of 13 CH 3 13 CH 2 and 13 CH 2 13 CH in the 1-alkene product (propene, 1-butene). It is proposed that the added acetylene is partially transformed to ethylene. The remaining acetylene is converted to an initiator (CH 2 CH ), and ethylene is transformed to a chain growth monomer ( CH 2 CH 2 ). Both the initiator and the monomer enter carbon chain in different paths. This corresponds with a “Di-Carbon Polymeric Monomer” hypothesis that we proposed before.